


Another Interpretation

by Nununununu



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aromantic, Developing Friendships, Don't copy to another site, First Meetings, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25473943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nununununu/pseuds/Nununununu
Summary: “Willyou stop that singing,” Molly scowled.
Relationships: Aromantic Siren & Aromantic Human, Original Female Character & Original Female Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Aromantic Characters Exchange





	Another Interpretation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosemarycat5](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosemarycat5/gifts).



> For Rosemarycat5 :)
> 
> (Originally posted 01/08; updated for author reveals)

“ _Will_ you stop that singing,” Molly scowled.

She’d stomped down to the waterside despite the fact it was dark and late as anything, the lantern she held aloft in one hand doing little to dispel the former, the hefty plank of wood she held in the other intended as a deterrent to any ne’er-do-well similarly out and about and out to take advantage of a woman seemingly alone by the harbour, although if the siren persisted with the racket Molly might prove not above threatening to give the aquatic woman a whack.

Whether she’d actually go through with it or not – well, the siren didn’t need to know that part of it, did she.

Come to think of it, when it came to ne’er-do-wells, perhaps Molly wasn’t the one who needed to worry. She’d heard talk enough at the tavern she ran to know the fisherfolk and sailors and pirates and whatnot were all agog with the prospect of sirens rumoured to be popping up from the ocean to do a bit of caterwauling, after which they would apparently choose human husbands to take with them down to their magical kingdom in the delightful depths – which to Molly sounded an awful lot like stories started by folks getting a bit _too_ excited by near-drowning – and she’d tutted and rolled her eyes at the lot of them when they then moved on to chiding her for not being wed herself yet.

As if she didn’t have better to do than that! And, what, did they think she’d be taking her pick of them if they were offering – that grimy lot? She’d toss them out on the end of her broom the lot of them, if she didn’t darn well like the lads most of the time – not for marrying or any other such carrying on, but a tumble if she felt so inclined or a drink and a song once she’d done serving, or even just a good game of cards.

“You don’t like my singing?” The siren floundered a little in apparent surprise, looking up at Molly from the water now. Then she rallied, “You don’t like it!”

“Nope,” Sniffing, Molly crossed her arms despite the fact she had to negotiate plank and lantern to do so, “Not one bit.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Sighing in seemingly heartfelt relief, the siren grinned, “I’m fed up to my gills of humans coming rushing down to the water crying _marry me, Marina, please_ , as if I’d only ever think to sing for the purpose of enticing some grubby land-lover to smush faces with or whatever it is you humans like to do. As if I haven’t got better things to do than that!”

“You do seem to be here, singing,” Molly felt obliged to point out, despite the fact that Marina’s objections struck an unbidden chord within herself, “Plenty of ocean out there to do so in.”

“My sisters do pressure me,” Her sigh was aggrieved this time, Marina flipping her fins in accompaniment to her frown, “I hate to bow to them, but I thought it might stop them if I gave in and sang just this once. Just to say I’d do it. Even if every secluded place I’ve found to sing previously seems to have humans popping up out of nowhere before long.” She gave Molly a chastening look, “Just because I’m a siren, it doesn’t have to mean I like the open ocean.”

“Fair enough,” Molly conceded apologetically, her shoulders lowering out of their confrontational stance, “You should be able to sing where you please without people making presumptions about it. Just like I should be able to run my tavern without folks assuming I’m just doing it while I wait to meet the ‘right person’. What even _is_ the right person?”

“Someone you fall madly in love with and want to talk about exclusively, disregarding anything else?” Marina made a considering noise, “At least according to one or two of my sisters.”

“Even just stepping out with a lady or gentleman isn’t something that appeals to me,” Molly confessed, “I’ll take a roll in the sack, but that’s the end of it, thanks.”

“Oh, I –” Marina blinked at her.

“That wasn’t an offer,” Looking away, Molly sniffed.

“Oh, good,” The siren relaxed, “I’m not sure I’d be interested in that either, for me.” Her gaze turned thoughtful in the lantern light, “Maybe someday. Although many of my sisters would make a terrible fuss – they’d be convinced I’d found The One.”

“You know,” Molly said contemplatively, as wheels began to turn in her mind, offering up a possibility she hadn’t anticipated, “I think I’ve got another interpretation of what ‘The One’ or the ‘right person’ could be – a meaning I reckon might fit better for you and sure would for me.”

“Hm?” Marina looked cautiously curious, “And that is?”

“A good friend,” Molly abruptly found that she smiled.

“I like the sound of that,” Returning the smile, Marina relaxed –

And that, for all their difference in situations and species, was indeed what they became.


End file.
